Glossing over a great opportunity

So here we are...The classic battle between a legacy business and creative opportunity. A university student named Tony Piloseno took on part time work at Sherwin-Williams and through his paint mixing he started created videos which drew millions of views on TikTok and further sharing on other platforms.

From the outset, these were not authorised by the brand, and he should have sought permission, especially as he was creating this content at the employer's facility and at times whilst he was being paid to help customers.

Having said that, his passion for the colour mixing and the millions of views could have been capitalised upon by the leadership. If they engaged with him, explaining the ground rules around their expectation, this would have been a very simple campaign to roll out with little to no investment.

A campaign which could highlight the brand to non-traditional audiences, creating loyalty early on. By engaging with him, they could have been creative and used their network of stores, mailing list, digital channels to leverage the creativity to promote specific products.

It would have been an amazing feel-good story which could have been win-win. Instead it looks like other independent brands are taking the idea and rolling it out for themselves with copycat content bringing them closer to that audience instead.

There is a full statement on why SW removed Tony from the workplace and we have to respect that it is their business and their right to take what they deem to be appropriate action, however it's a missed opportunity. It's not like those Snaps/ TikToks from fast food kitchens where unmentionable things have been filmed.

I also appreciate that if this was all sparked by a customer complaint, that is very serious. However, to understand audiences under 25, the next generation of homeowners, is to understand where they consume content. Just sticking to traditional media and advertising is shortsighted, we know that influencer marketing is huge, integrating art and storytelling is potent, this could have had a great outcome and there is still an opportunity for another brand to align with Tony. Afterall with Reels, TikTok, Snap, FB Stories, Instagram Stories, and other video driven services, there is the ability to tie a product to a video. Thinking about the long term goal is key here.

Build loyalty, build it early.

Original story: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/college-student-behind-a-massively-popular-paint-mixing